Saturn to come closest to Earth at 11.30 am today: Senior planetarium official

BHUBANESWAR : Saturn and Earth will be closest to each other in a year on August 2 at 11.30 am, said Dr Suvendu Pattnaik, Deputy Director of Pathani Samanta Planetarium.

People across the world that will be in their nighttime, will be able to see a bright Saturn, he told ANI.

"As per Indian Standard Time (IST) at 11.30 am, Saturn and Earth will be closest to each other. It will be daytime in India but wherever there is nighttime, people will see a bright Saturn," said Dr Pattnaik.

Earth takes about 365 days to orbit the sun while Saturn takes around 29.5 years for completing one full revolution of the sun, he informed.

"Once every year, Earth and Saturn come close to each other while revolving in their orbital path. In a time span of 1 year and 13 days they come closest to each other. Earlier, they came close on July 20, 2020 and will again do so on August 14, 2022," said the senior planetarium official.

He further said, "When they are very close to each other, the average distance will be around 120 crores kilometres, which is 50 crore kilometres less in comparison to the maximum distance between them, which happens after 6 months when Saturn will be across the other side of the Earth."

According to him, Saturn will appear bright even with naked eye and it can be seen throughout the night for the whole month of August.

"A few satellites of Saturn can also be seen with a small telescope," he added.